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Outer city bypass plan to go to An Bord Pleanala in 2015
Galway Bay fm newsroom – It’ll be mid-2019 before construction on the outer city bypass is complete if it gets the go-ahead.
That’s according to Director of Services with Galway County Council, Frank Gilmore, who addressed a meeting of the City Council last evening.
Mr. Gilmore was there to give a presentation about the status of the bypass project.
He also asked councillors to vote in favour of an agreement which would see the County Council put forward plans for the bypass project on behalf of both local authorities.
He told members of the City Council that it will be 2015 before an application for the outer city bypass will be submitted to An Bord Pleanala, to determine whether or not it can go through an IROPI process.
The delay is due to the fact that habitat mapping will take 12 months to complete.
The IROPI process is for projects which are of overriding public importance.
Frank Gilmore said that an outer city bypass is the only “realistic long-term solution” to the traffic congestion in Galway city and on its approach roads.
A decision on the previous plan for the outer city bypass was appealed to the Supreme Court and referred to the European Court of Justice, which resulted in it being blocked.
That process cost 14million euro and it’s estimated that if the outer bypass goes ahead it will cost in excess of 300 million euro.
Certain aspects of the previous plan for the ring road will also be revisited according to Frank Gilmore, including access from the Tuam Road and at Gurrane.
The Compulsory Purchase Orders which were put in place for the previous bypass have also fallen, although the land still remains restricted from sale or development.
13 councillors voted in favour of approving an agreement with the County Council to act on behalf of both Councils, with Councillor Catherine Connolly abstaining from the vote.
She had told the meeting that other sustainable alternatives should be examined.
The death has occurred of the former Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora Martin Drennan, six years after he announced his retirement on health grounds. He was aged 78.
The Galway Diocesan Office confirmed the death this (Saturday) afternoon of the Bishop and Apostolic Administrator Emeritus, who oversaw the Diocese for eleven years.
Born on January 2, 1944 in Piltown, County Kilkenny, he studied for the priesthood at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, from where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1968. His brother Michael is also a priest.
Following his ordination, he continued his studies in Rome where he was awarded a Licentiate in both sacred theology and sacred scripture. He returned to Rome in 1980 to become spiritual director at the Pontifical Irish College for the next five years.
He became a lecturer in sacred scripture at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he continued to teach until his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin in 1997 with responsibility for East Wicklow and South Dublin.
Following the retirement of Bishop James McLoughlin, Bishop Drennan was appointed Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora and he was installed on July 3, 2005 in Galway Cathedral.
Outgoing Cllr Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) is on course to retain her City Council seat – and top the poll in City East.
With 33% of the boxes tallied, Cllr O’Flaherty is polling strongly, particularly in Renmore.
Michael John Crowe is ahead of his running mate Alan Cheevers for the Fianna Fáil vote, according to the early figures, although that could change when Doughiska and Roscam boxes are opened.
The Green Party’s Claire Hillery is on about 7%, with Fine Gael on 10% and Sinn Fein on 5%.
The opening of boxes for the local elections began at 9am this morning in Leisureland when the tallymen (and women) kicked into gear.
As regards the Galway County Council elections, the smaller areas are being opened first which means that the four-seater Connemara North boxes will be first in the pecking order.
It will be followed by Gort-Kinvara (5 seats), Connemara South (5 seats), Athenry-Oranmore (7 seats), Ballinasloe (6 seats), Loughrea (5 seats) and finally Tuam (7 seats).
The boxes in these areas will be opened and tallied in that particular order before being transferred to the Galway Lawn Tennis Club on Threadneedle Road where the counting will commence around mid-morning.
That is when the fun will really begin – although the tallies should give a good indication as to where most of the seats are destined.
As regards the city, the Galway City East boxes were opened first, followed by Galway City Central and finally Galway City West. These votes will be transferred to the Westside Centre by around 11am for counting.
There are 39 seats on Galway County Council to be filled with 18 on Galway City Council. The City Council count is expected to conclude on Saturday night but the County Council count – with seven electoral areas to be filled – could well go into Monday.
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